Headlight construction



Aug. 15, 1939 I H. c. JENNINGS 2,169,531

HEADLIGHT CONSTRUCTION Filed July 12, 1957' amend M @Jim Patented Aug. 15, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HEADLIGHT CONSTRUCTION Howard 0. Jennings, Lufkin, Tex., assignor of forty per cent to James G. Donovan, Houston,

Tex.

Application July 12, 1937, Serial No. 153,091

1 Claim.

The invention'relates to a headlight construction which is of the anti-glare type. It is one of the objects of the invention to provide an antiglare headlight wherein the rays are reflected forwardly from the headlight in a substantially horizontal plane.

Another object of the invention is to provide an arrangement of guide plates for the reflected rays so that they will not rise above the elevation of the headlight.

Another object of the invention is to provide a set of guide plates for the reflected rays which have a thickened area at the rear thereof adjacent the light bulb so that the rays passing between the plates will be directed along a horizontal path.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an attachment for headlights which is made up of a frame and guide plates to direct the rays.

Another object of the invention is to provide a frame and a set of guide plates for headlights wherein the guide plates are provided with a nonreflecting upper surface and a reflecting lower surface.

It is also an object to space the guide plates relative to each other in such a manner as to prevent the light rays from being projected upwardly above the level of the headlight.

Other and further objects of the invention will be readily apparent when the following description is considered in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a headlight in which the invention has been incorporated.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through the center of the headlight.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation.

Fig. 4 is a broken detail section showing the connection for attaching the device to a standard type of headlight.

Fig. 5 is a broken detail of a thin type of frame for the guide plates.

Fig. 1 illustrates a headlight of a conventional type gi that it has the body 2, the reflector 3, the socket 4, and the light bulb 5 therein. The reflector is resiliently mounted by virtue of the spring supports 1 which hold it in proper position.

The present invention may be embodied in a frame to support the guide plates 20. This frame may be a thin annular ring ID to seat under the lens as seen in Fig. 5 or, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, it may be a cylinder l inserted in the forward end ll of the headlight body 2. This frame if of cylindrical shape shall be provided (Cl. 7240-48-4) a with a flange l2 to abut the reflector 3 and a similar flange l3 at its forward end which serves as a seat for the packing material l4 and upon which the headlight lens I is mounted. This entire assembly is held in position by the hold down ring l6, which is clamped in position by the bolt I! passing through the ears l8 and I9 on the ring and the headlight body respectively.

It is to be understood that the lens l5 may be of any desired type but is preferably of that type which diffuses the light rays so that they are uniformly distributed over a predetermined. area. The frame I 0 is of particular construction in that it serves as a support for a set of guide plates such as 20. These plates are affixed at their ends to 16 the cylindrical frame or ring In, and as seen in Fig. 1 they extend transversely of the ring so that the forward end 2| projects ahead of the ring and the rearward end 22 projects behind the ring. These plates may be of any suitable material but are preferably flat and of thin metal. The under side 23 of each of these guide plates is preferably a reflecting surface so that the light rays impinging against the under side will be reflected downwardly while the upper surface will be nonreflecting so that light rays impinging on the upper side will not be reflected upward. It will be observed that these plates may be uniformly spaced vertically from each other and it has been found in practice that the particular spacing of these plates at distances of from about threefourths of an inch to about one and one-half inches is satisfactory depending on the various circumstances under which they are used in order to prevent a glaring effect from the headlight. The inside surface of the frame Ill may or may not be a reflecting surface.

It is possible that with some types and sizes of head lights that the light rays from the reflector 3 might enter between the plates at such an angle that they might leave the headlight attachment at an upwardly directed angle to create a slight glare so if desired those plates directly adjacent the light bulb 5 may be provided with a thickened area 25 which is in the form of a thin strip of material which is spaced the greatest distance away from the guide plate at its rear end. In this manner the width of the opening between the guide plates is diminished at the rear so that the amount of light that may pass from the source of light diagonally outwardly and upwardly between adjacent guide plates will be materially reduced. These thickened areas may or may not be provided.

These thickened portions 25 also prevent a 55 glare from the headlight when a person views the headlight from the front thereof because of the fact that the area for the entrance of light rays has been diminished as to thosepassageways such as 26 which lead more or less directly to the source of light so that those rays emanating directly from the bulb will be unable to pass directly forward except in a substantially horizontal plane.

In Fig. 4 an arrangement is shown for the connection of thepresent invention in the form of an attachment which can be inserted into any" headlight by merely removing the lens thereof and inserting the frame II! in the position where the lens had been; The lens, of course, can then be affixed to the forward end of the frame the same as previously described. The joint or connection is the same in Fig.4 as seen'injFigs. 11'

and 2. When the thin type of frame JD shown in Fig. 5 is used of course it may be inserted between the headlight body and the lens without any difficulty and it maybe applied as an attachment to existing headlights without arranging the body with an extra length in front of; the reflector as'shownin Fig. 1.

In 'Fig. 2 it Will be observed-that some of the 7 plates such as the plate .30 have been cut away at 32 closely adjacent the source of light 5. This has been done so that the rays from the light may move to substantially all the points of the reflector 3, particularly moving upward and ing a reflector provided with a source of light at its focal point and a lens at the forward end of the reflector, said attachment comprising a frame/meansfor resiliently'clamping the frame between the reflector and the lens, a plurality of w. thin plates having refiecting lower surfaces and non-reflecting upper surfaces, said plates being fixed to the frame and extending transversely thereof in vertically spaced relationsaid plates extending from the innerface'of the lensrear wardly to a vertical -plan61thrO h the light source and contoured to-fit closely thein nerssurface of the reflector, the inner ends of theplates adjacent the light source beingprovided with cut-outs to accommodate the light source, and.

upwardly thickened portions on some of said plates adjacent the light source to reduce the amount of direct radiation diagonally outwardly between theplates. .HO A D JE INGS.- 

